For the second time in two days, thieves tried to rob a man at gunpoint in Glendale after he responded to a Craigslist ad to buy two iPhones, police said Wednesday.
The robbery attempt occurred in the 500 block of Hazel Street on Friday, a day after a similar, but unrelated, incident on North Glendale Avenue, police said. In that robbery, two 19-year-old men were robbed at gunpoint at a Glendale gas station after posting an ad on Craigslist to sell seven cellphones.
In the latest incident, the 25-year-old Montebello man spoke to the seller on the phone earlier in the day regarding a Craigslist advertisement for the sale for two 64-gigabyte iPhone 5s for $950, according to Glendale Police Department.
The same model is being sold on Apple for $399 with a wireless provider contract. The seller told the victim that he preferred to meet on Hazel Street in Glendale because that's where he lived.
With more than $1,000 cash in hand, the victim and his 18-year-old cousin headed to Glendale and met up with a man who said he was selling one of the phones.
A short conversation ensued before a second man suddenly jumped out of nearby bushes and pointed a black, semiautomatic handgun at the victim's body, police said. The man demanded that the victim hand over his belongings, including the money, police said.
The victim told the man his wallet was inside the vehicle, so he walked over to the vehicle and sat in the passenger seat to grab his wallet, police said. During a struggle over the wallet, the victim was able to grab the gun and point it away from his head, police said.
At that point, the victim's cousin accelerated the vehicle and they fled the area.
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A SIMILAR INCIDENT HAPPENED IN THOUSAND OAKS...
Thousand Oaks police were investigating two robberies that occurred with minutes of each other Wednesday night.
Police said the first occurred at 7:20 p.m. when a 17-year-old was approached by a man as he walked between two apartment buildings in the 600 block of Avenida Del Platino. The youth told police the man asked him if he had any marijuana.
When the teen said no, the man pulled out a handgun and demanded the youth's cellphone, police said.
The man then hit the teen on the head with the gun before firing a shot into a nearby garage door, police said. Police recovered the bullet in the kitchen of apartment. The youth was not seriously injured and no other injuries were reported.
Six minutes later, Thousand Oaks police were told that two women who had purchased some iPhones in the Apple store at The Oaks mall were robbed of the phones as they walked to their car. Witnesses said two males who appeared to be teenagers wrestled the phones from the women, police said. The youths then jumped into a waiting vehicle and took off.
